Suggested Assignments
Week 1:
Introduction to each other and to the course.
Read: Voices, Becoming a Better Reader, pp. 1-10..
Week 2:
Becoming a Better Reader, continued
Read: College Communication Tool Kit, pp.5-6
Double entry journals (Tool Kit, p. 50).
Using Blackboard.
Reading Pre-Test.
Essay #1 assigned
Week 3:
Read: College Communication Tool Kit, pp. 8-11.
Read: Voices and Values, Becoming a Better Writer, pp. 11-28.
Read: College Communication Tool Kit, pp. 18-25
Essay #1 due
Week 4:
Narrative writing
Read: “Bird Girl” and “Rowing the Bus,” in Voices and Values
Write in double-entry journal
Essay #2 assigned
Week 5:
Read: “From Nonreading to Reading” and “Reading to Survive” in Voices
and Values
Fragments and Run on Sentences, English Brushup
Read: College Communication Tool Kit, pp. 26-30
Essay #2 due
Week 6:
Essay #3 assigned
Subjects and Verbs, English Brushup
Read: “The Scholarship Jacket” and “A Small Victory,” in
Voices and Values
Week 7:
Midterm Essay Examination, Self-evaluation, Conferences (Tool Kit,
p. 32).
Introduction to the portfolio (Tool Kit, p. 31) .
Revisions.
Read: “All Good Things” and “The Yellow Ribbon,” in Voices and
Values; Essay# 3 due
Week 8:
Descriptive writing
Read: “Rudenss at the Movies” and “My Daughter Smokes” in Voices
and Values; Novel assignment.
Write in double-entry journal.
Commas, apostrophes, and quotation marks in English Brushup
Essay #4 assigned
Week 9:
Read: “Flour Children” and “Living the Madison Avenue Lie” in Voices
and Values,Continue novel.
Write in double-entry journal.
Using examples for support in essays
Week 10:
Essay #4 due
Read: “Anxiety: Challenge by Another Name” and “Winners, Losers, or
Just Kids,” in Voices and Values, Continue novel.
Write in double-entry journal.
Essay #5 assigned
Week 11:
Process writing
Read: “Dealing with Feelings,” “Seven Ways to Keep Peace at Home,”
and “Learning Survival Skills,” in Voices and Values, Continue novel
Write in double-entry journal.
Essay #5 due
Week 12:
Revisions; work on Portfolio (Tool Kit, p. 31).
Film viewing
Essay #6 assigned
Continue novel
Write in double-entry journal.
Week 13:
Continue novel.
Write in double-entry journal.
Essay #6 due and Essay #7 assigned
Reading Post-test
Write and revise.
Overview of academic writing (Tool Kit, pp. 28- 30)
Week 14:
Reading Post-test
Write and revise.
Overview of academic writing (Tool Kit, pp. 28- 30)
Essay #7 due
Work on portfolios
Week 15:
Work on portfolios.
All double-entry journals due
In-class essay final exam
Week 16:
Final Exam Week:
Portfolios are due, Reading post-test
Sample Essay 1
Your first essay will be a narrative essay, told from the first-person point of view.
In it you will describe a book, short story, poem, or other piece of writing that was
important to you at one point in your life. Describe why it was important and how it
affected you.
Begin by prewriting (brainstorming or free writing). Continue organizing your
thoughts and ideas in the form of an outline or cluster map. Then begin writing your first
draft. This draft must be typed, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman. Begin with
an interesting title. Then start your introductory paragraph ending a thesis statement
(statement of purpose). Follow this with three well-constructed body paragraphs relating
directly to the thesis. End with an interesting concluding paragraph.
Sample Essay 2
In the selection “Bird Girl,” when Ray Windsor went to his high school guidance
counselor to talk about being teased, he didn’t receive much help. In a first-person
narrative essay, describe what you would have done if you were his counselor. Come up
with three ideas to encourage students to treat each other better and to better handle being
teased or bullied. Include detailed suggestions that will make schools friendlier places (p.
43 #1).
Sample Essay 3
Write a five-paragraph essay in which you identify and explain three actions parents can
take to provide a positive learning environment for their children. Your thesis statement
at the end of your introductory paragraph may read: Parents could help their children
succeed in school by _____, ______, and ____. Add a title and strong concluding
paragraph. Once again, make sure the essay is double-spaced, 12-point, Times New
Roman.
Sample Essay 4
The topic of your fourth essay is the type of pressures teenagers face to look or act
a certain way. Examine the consequences—for example, low self-esteem, eating
disorders, steroid use—when these ideals are not achieved. Focus your essay on three
different influences—such as fashion magazines, TV shows, and professional sports—
and the consequences of each (p. 54, #2 of Voices and Values). This essay is academic,
not narrative, and therefore, should be told in the third person (he, she, or it), not the first
person (I).
Sample Essay 5
Your fifth essay will be a comparison and contrast essay of characters in the book
The Glass Castle and the movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird. First, compare and
contrast Jeannette Walls and Scout. Then, compare and contrast Rex Walls and Atticus as
father figures. Finally, compare and contrast the Walls family with the Finch family.
Devote one body paragraph to each of the three areas of comparison and contrast
mentioned above. Write an interesting and logical introduction to the essay, which ends
in a clear and relevant thesis statement. Conclude your essay in a strong and memorable
way. As always, create a title for the essay.
Sample Essay 6
Your sixth essay will be a narrative. This essay will be written from the firstperson point of view (I). Explain a time when someone was rude to you. Describe what
happened, how you reacted, and how you felt about it. Conclude by explaining why your
response was good or by telling what you wish you had done instead (p. 403 #1 of Voices
and Values.
Sample Essay 7
Since you have all successfully completed the extra credit reading skills
workshop, this essay is entirely optional. The topic is Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle.
While visiting Bloomfield College, Jeannette Walls said that she tried many different
titles for her memoir, but she kept coming back to The Glass Castle. In a well-written,
well-constructed five-paragraph essay, explain what the glass castle meant to Jeannette
Walls when she was a child and why you think she chose this as the title for her memoir.